Customer Reviews

For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is easily the most amazing book I have ever read. Mr. Sobel takes a single battle from the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Saratoga, changes the winner and goes on to build an entire world from the result. The loss of this battle for the Americans results in the loss of the entire war, leaving the British the victors of the American Revolution.

After the British execute the leaders of the revolution, they begin to build an entirely new nation from the American colonies and Canada. Those who favored the revolution emigrate to the southwest to establish their own nation. The rest of the book is the history of those two countries and the tensions between them from the 1770's to the 1970's.

The people and events are much more real than you would imagine fictitious characters and events could possibly be. Mr. Sobel footnotes the book with references from publications in his new world and includes charts and graphs. Some of the characters are based on historical figures from our own history, but most seem to be complete fabrications from the author's imagination. All of his characters have complete personalities. He also includes technical developments, such as weapons and ground cars, and social developments.

When you read this book you will find yourself asking if this world actually exists. It just doesn't seem possible that an author can so thoroughly create a world, with all of its aspects and people, from his imagination.

For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga is one of my favorite books. I have read the book three times in the past twenty years and I am looking forward to owning a copy of the latest edition!

The last time I read this book was three years ago so my memories of the story just can't do it justice. Don't take my word for it, get your hands on a copy of this book and read it for yourself!

I was a bit hesitant getting For Want of a Nail..., mainly because I've heard from various places that it is a "fictional textbook", and so might be drier than Death Valley at noon. But when I actually started reading it I was quite surprised to be totally absorbed in the narrative, even the really dry parts were at least slightly interesting. A survey from the doomed Revolution (where our Founding Fathers are held with complete contempt) to an uneasy (and completely different) Cold War in the early seventies. A really fascinating part of the narrative is how one event 200 years ago can vastly change the history of the entire world...by the time you get to "today" all the names are unrecognizable, as are many parts of the world map. Sobel even puts down an extensive list of "source material" from historical texts that never existed, but don't ignore them though because they sometimes provide interesting foreshadowing for the rest of the chapter/book. I have a feeling that octopus-like companies like the Kramer Associates are going to become a major factor in our own future. In For Want of a Nail... they provide a third party to the CNA and USM, a nation in all aspects but doesn't own any land. And oddly enough I actually agreed with many of Dr. Dana's points at the end of the book, which made me like it even more. One minor point of contention: the British seem to invest the CNA with a LOT of autonomy, nearly too much to be believable at some points. But basically it is worth every penny. Stop reading this and buy it now!

I had never read an alternative history before, but I have certainly read my share of text books. I can't
help but think that someone went to a parallel universe and brought this "text book" back with them.
This is really more than one book in one. The beginning, everyone can recognize, as it starts with
history of the revolutionary war all school children know. It then gets even more interesting as the time
line departs from the familiar. I did like, and agree with, the appearances of just a very few familiar
names as the years ticked by- Lincoln and Edison are there. Some people are simply destined to be
born, and make a mark. I would expect that this is a bit of the "pebble in the stream" theory of some
time travel books that I have enjoyed only in reverse, of is it in the alternative? Not to ruin anything, but
the current president reminded me some of Bill Clinton in the absurdity of his situation while in office.
Then again, if Sobel had written of a president who got impeached for sex with an intern, critics would
have called it implausible. After reading this book, I researched it on the Web and discovered that this
book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has won Sci-Fi awards. I also saw a web page that had
in depth discussions of the military tactics described in the book. This seems incredible as Sobel has
written mostly business histories and biographies. After reading For Want of a Nail, I bought Calvin
Coolidge, by Sobel and liked that too. I give this book high marks. For what it is worth, I am a real
estate attorney. My brother is a college history professor at UVA and he gave this book very high
marks as well.

This may well be the most intricate, detailed, and plausible alternate history ever written. Unlike most works of AH it tells the COMPLETE story of its parallel timeline, not just a few events. Rather than a novel covering the lives of a few specific characters, it is written in the form of a history textbook (complete with charts, tables, footnotes, and a map) telling the history of two whole nations, from founding to the present day (the 1970s). Though some might find the textbook format bland and boring, the author's fascinating extrapolations were more than enough to keep me hooked.

When I was younger, I always thought that fictional history was much more interesting than real-life history. I would spend hours reading Role-Playing textbooks just to learn the history of fantasy worlds. Even now that I'm a big fan of real history, I've found that fictional history still holds a special place in my heart. I read this book in about five days, whereas a "real" history text would probably take much longer.

The story: Britain won the Battle of Saratoga, and the American rebellion was crushed. In order to prevent further resentment, the Thirteen Colonies were combined with Canada to form the Confederation of North America (CNA). Although still part of the British Empire, this new nation was granted an extensive degree self-government, and soon became a major economic power.

Many of the former revolutionaries, however, were not happy with this arrangement. These men fled to Texas, where they formed the independent nation of Jefferson. After intervening in a local squabble in Mexico, they arranged for Jefferson and Mexico to be united as one nation, called the United States of Mexico (USM). Although not as stable as the CNA, this continent-spanning republic also became a major player on the world stage.

For Want of a Nail tells the story of the CNA and the USM in great detail. Political and economic trends are discussed in depth, including state-by-state descriptions of elections (both nations develop variations of our familiar republican system). There is also abundant information on important personalities and technological developments. Although military history is not Sobel's strong point, there were enough wars to keep me reading. Events in the rest of the world are not covered in great detail, but there is enough information to give a general idea of what is going on.

It might bore some, but serious lovers of alternate history are in for a real treat.

A great conceit! I reviewed this book for my college paper when it first appeared in 1976, and still go back to it again and again. It's not an alternate history novel -- it's an alternate history survey text from a world where the American Revolution was defeated and the patriots made the long march to resettle in Texas ("Jefferson" in their history) just as the Loyalists fled to Canada and the Carribbean in our timeline. Sobel is an economic historian, so the aspects of developing economies and political structures are of more interest to him than pursuing the "Great Man" theory of history. The bibliography in the back, from that world, is also a grand conceit. It just needed more maps, a drawback not likely to be met in the new edition.

Stu Shiffman
http://www.halcyon.com/roscoe/
roscoe@halcyon.com

I first read Robert Sobel's FOR WANT OF A NAIL in the 1970s when I came across it by chance in a library. I recently purchased the Greenhill paperback edition and reread it. I rediscovered a fascinating alternate history (this was one of the first A.H. books) in which Great Britain prevailed over its rebellious American Colonists in 1776.

In this alternate history the eastern half of North America evolves into a mild mannered British-influenced land known as the Confederation of North America, a sort of Greater Canada that is prosperous but bland. The western half of North America evolves into an Anglo-Hispanic superpower known as the United States of Mexico that is created when America's defeated rebels migrate to Texas then conquer Mexico and then expand its territory to encompass all the lands between South America and Alaska. Unfortunately as history unfolds, the United States of Mexico abandons the Anglo-American ideals of liberty, regressing instead to the Latin American model of alternating between destructive bouts of fascist aggression and populist/socialist economic destruction. A third superpower known as Kramer Associates evolves on Taiwan when the United States of Mexico's middle class flees there to escape the chaos and political oppression in the U.S.M.

FOR WANT OF A NAIL is a credible scenario of what might have happened if the Brits had won in 1776 and the United States had been stillborn. Robert Sobel, an economic historian, paints a very detailed and credible canvas of politics and economics in this alternative world. After reading the book an American comes away feeling very pleased that our forefathers succeeded in creating the USA. Canada and Mexico are fine countries, but it is fortunate that the major part of the North American Continent won its independence and evolved into something different from either.

I started reading alternative histories about four years ago. I bought this one after reading that it won the Sidewise Award for Alterative History. Now I know why. I found the detailed history that Sobel constructed to be compelling. You do not have to be a history buff to enjoy this book, but it would likely help. This is the first five star review that I am leaving for a Sci-Fi book and I have left many.

"For Want of a Nail" is an alternate history for those who know history. As a Bachelor of Arts in History and a former Social Studies teacher, I was absolutely fascinated by Mr. Sobel's literary, creative, and historical genius. The alternate history that he presents is completely realistic, both in suppositions and format. He even meticulously "footnotes" his book with a small library's worth of "historical sources" (which, of course, are strictly literary inventions for the sake of adding a scholarly "feel" to the book). The most amazing thing about the book was how realistic it seemed; there were times that I would put the book down (which was difficult to do) and then would have to remind myself that the utterly plausible scholarly tome that I had been reading was only a work of fiction. I have read many alternate history stories; unfortunately, most rely on either highly improbable events or outright flights of fancy (such as time travelers or space aliens). "For Want of a Nail", by contrast, is a masterpiece of plausibility, and a work of fiction that a scholar and student of history can enjoy.

While many fans of alternate history will tell you this is a lnadmark in the genre, the finest ever written, I thought that would be exaggerating. Sobel's other work is in the field of economics, and he puts that knowledge to good use by detailing the economic history of this timeline, going through bull markets and recessions. But after a while the endless economic analysis gets plodding.

This isn't written as a novel, but rather a historical text from the alternate timeline's view. It is quite the treatise. I was amazed and amused at the extent to which Sobel carries the joke, including a 15-page bibliography of "sources" from the other history, a preface by himself from the other history, and a closing "critique" supposedly by another historian in the other history. The subtitle to the book, found on the title page, is the only place you see anything admitting his history isn't real. But this works aginst Sobel sometimes. I was unable to find any sources from our history, even ones written before the two timelines diverge dealing with the years both have in common. These years are footnoted with materials "written" long after the fact. I think real sources were called for here; and for showing why certain real people would behave as they do here.

Sobel's work also could stand some better proofreading. Every now and then, people who were born well after this timeline breaks from ours appear (Lincoln, Edison, Rockefeller, etc.) Some play larger parts than others. But most of them have no business existing in this world, let alone in similar roles (Edison was still an inventing genius, Lincoln still became a lawyer). Sobel could also have used a proofreader to avoid internal inconsistency. Sometimes you read something which doesn't go well with what you read a few pages back. Winfield Scott is mentioned as learning of key Mexican war plans in 1850 as Governor-General of North America, but on the next page it says he resigned in 1849! Either he was in office or not.

But the inconsistencies don't amount to anything major. All in all, it's still a good alternate history book.

Sobel has accomplished what few ever have....a true alternative history. Its one thing to have the South win the Civil War or the Nazi's World War 2 but to strive to write something as a textbook as if the events actually happened shows dedication to what you're writing and great courage.

The book is amazing as it takes the reader in directions he never would have thought the "magic if" works very well here.

Overall-Alternative History fans, this one is defiantly worth a look.